The 23rd Writers of the Future Awards and Illustrators of the Future Awards were handed out recently at a ceremony at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. As with every one of their annual ceremonies, this gala celebration included many of the judges, all the winners, and some celebrities to help hand out the hardware. The ceremony also marked the publication of Writers of the Future, Volume XXIII, in which all the award-winning stories, and the work of the award-winning illustrators, appears.
Prior to the awards ceremony, the winners attended a week-long workshop, which was taught by contest judges Kevin J. Anderson, Tim Powers, Sean Williams, and Stephen Hickman.
In addition to their quarterly prizes, the annual grand prize Gold Award winners receive $5,000 for the best story and best illustration of the year. This year’s Gold Award for Writing went to “Saturn in G Minor” by Stephen Kotowych, from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Gold Award for Illustration went to Lorraine Schleter, from Fort Branch, Indiana, USA.
The 2006 quarterly winners, from whom the Gold Award winners were chosen from the 2006 quarterly winners. The writers received quarterly prizes of $1000 for first, $750 for second, and $500 for third. Those quarterly winners were:
First Quarter:
First place: “The Frozen Sky” by Jeff Carlson
Second place: “The Stone Cipher” by Tony Pi
Third Place: “The Phlogiston Age” by Corey Brown
Second Quarter:
First place : “Ripping Carovella” by Kim Zimring
Second place: “Primetime” by Douglas Texter
Third place: “Our Last Words” by Damon Kaswell
Third Quarter:
First place: “Saturn in G Minor” by Stephen Kotowych
Second place: “Obsidian Shards” by Aliette De Bodard
Third place: “Pilgrimage” by Karl Bunker
Fourth Quarter:
First place: “The Sun God at Dawn, Rising from a Lotus Blossom” by Andrea Kail
Second place: “The Gas Drinkers” by Edward Sevcik
Third place: “Mask Glass Magic” by John Burridge
The quarterly winners in the illustration contest are not ranked. They were:
First Quarter:
Bryan Beus
Lars Edwards
Bogdan Stetsenko
Second Quarter:
Amelia Mammoliti
Artem Mirolevich
Corey Love
Third Quarter:
Marcus Collins
Randall Ensley
Peter Town
Fourth Quarter:
Yuliya Kostyuk
Geir Lanesskog
Lorraine Schleter
For more information on the contest, including entry requirements, see www.writersofthefuture.com. Below is a group shot of the winners and judges from the awards ceremony, provided by the contest.